I have two gardenia plants. Unremarkable until you learn that one is about 15 years old, and the other is about five years old. Both are cuttings from a gardenia which was given to my mother more than 45 years ago. 
That plant has been carried outside at Easter and inside at Thanksgiving to keep it alive and growing. I continue to do the same with mine because these plants won’t tolerate our cold Maryland winters, even though we kept the original one in an unheated but sunny room for several winters.
Mine have suffered over the past year due to a botched pruning job and a winter outbreak of aphids. Many of the leaves fell off and those that remained were not the deep green associated with gardenias. I had very few blossoms on either plant, although one was at my former office, and one was at the house. 
As soon as the weather looked like we were past any hard freezes, in early April, I lugged both plants outside and let the sun and the rain work on revitalizing them. 
Clearly this has worked better than I even anticipated, since both plants are covered in buds. I found the first open blossom when I let Connor into the back garden, and could smell the its gorgeous peppery scent in the morning air. 
I picked it, put it in a little silver pitcher and took it into the office.
When I got home from work, several more buds had bloomed into beautiful white blossoms, and I picked those as well, and brought them in to bask in their scent and their beauty. 
I love gardenias for the same reason I love magnolias – the amazingly white flowers against the glossy dark green leaves. 
I love these plants for their long history and for the unbroken chain of life that they represent.
My favorite flower which I carried and wore in my hair on my wedding day.
ReplyDeleteThere is an artist who paints them beautifully. Mary Anne Currier.
Your gardenia's are gorgeous.
pve
Oh, I will have to look up Mary Anne's work! And I am sure you do a fabulous painting of a gardenia as well!
DeleteBeautiful. I have a gardenia planted in a large pot outside my bedroom window. Heaven on a night like last night when I could sleep with the windows open.
ReplyDeletexo J.
Right you are! The damp air really makes the scent float around the garden.
DeleteHow nice that you have kept them going all these years! Gardenias are one of my favorites also for their scent.
ReplyDeleteI think that my siblings have some cuttings as well!
DeleteMy favorite flower and I've never had any luck growing them. I will try the inside and outside treatement but how did you rid them of aphids?
ReplyDeleteSoap and water!
DeleteI rescued the gardenia in my yard ten years ago or so. The house next door foreclosed and the lush plantings were all uprooted and tossed over the fence. I, enabled by one semester of Botany instruction, boldly adopted the gardenia and planted it in the front yard near the front walk, so when it did bloom; we could enjoy the spectacle arriving and leaving the house. I did trim it back last year only to root the cuttings elsewhere! And though it seems to have bloomed a month later then last year, the shrub has been covered in blooms!! Could it be helpful, the coffee grounds I toss about the azaleas and other shrubs in my yard? I feel that it is less to go to the landfill in any event.Gardenias are a Good thang.
ReplyDeleteWe have to keep them in pots here. Too cold in the winter for them.
DeleteRemarkable, indeed! I've managed to kill every gardenia I've tried here. Perhaps I should try one in a pot indoors.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of "pass along plants" so that makes your gardenias all the more special. Their longevity is a testament to your love and care!
I gave a gardenia plant to my sister for her birthday this year. Now I wish I'd given myself one too. Will do that next spring when they are available. Thanks for sharing this. ~ Sarah
They are great plants, but they are temperamental!
DeletePlease pass along any tips at all. I can grow almost any plant, except gardenias! I have a sick looking one on my patio right now! Do you use a particular plant food? Yours are astonishing!
ReplyDeleteCynthia
Benign neglect seems to work for me! I do add some iron chelate sometimes when i remember. i think that the rainwater and sunshine are best. i do try and collect rainwater when the plants are inside and water them with that. i think that it's got nutrients and other stuff (chemicals) that benefit the plants more than straight tapwater.
DeleteHi Meg, Thank you for sharing the history of your gardenias. Plants do tend to tell us what they want when we spend time listening to them. Your guys (gals?) have once again blessed you with their glory.
ReplyDeleteHave a super week.
Mary
I can't tell you how pleased I am with their health this year.
Delete"Gardenia" just the name congers fabulous images. They are one of my favorites-an outside plant in NW Fla & S CA + I am so blessed. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com
ReplyDeleteDoesn't it just sound like a lush 1940's movie? I can't even imagine gardenia hedges, which i've only seen in pictures.
DeleteLovely! The first flowers my husband gave me when we were dating were gardenias. He gave me three blooms/leaves, which came in a box, and suggested I float them in a bowl of water. How romantic! I knew right away I had a great guy.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a keeper! I found a little device - basically a thin cork ring, that helps your flower float in a bowl. it came in several sizes. pretty clever!
DeleteWe have a few gardenia bushes: none are exactly thriving, but they will do! They do have flowers which is the most important thing... and I too put them in a silver pitcher always. It is only fitting!
ReplyDeleteI remember gardenias from high school dances! Yes, the corsage or wrist band with the pure white gardenias that would smell so wonderful and then turn totally yellow and brown by the end of the evening! Now surely that dates me, right? Anyway, gorgeous flowers indeed!
Quite a feat to keep the plants going so long. I never had any luck with gardenias, maybe I should try again.
ReplyDelete